Nervous system regulation is a buzzword in wellness and health coaching, training, yoga, and therapy. It is often approached from the perspective of relaxation: calming our nervous system to limit or move out of activation or stress.
This is an important aspect of regulation. However, it is only half the picture. True regulation and its benefits to nervous system function — the capacity to tolerate and manage stressful and high charge states — can support us in our daily lives. This is especially relevant in our present circumstance, as we are living in a time with a great deal of uncertainty and high levels of stress.
People might be familiar with some common regulation practices including breath work, meditation, and mindfulness exercises. These are helpful and necessary aspects of a health and wellness practice. However, the emphasis placed on staying calm or relaxed does a disservice to the resilience of the nervous system.
To understand the full scope of regulation, we need a bit of background on our current understanding of nervous system functioning. Stephen Porges’s Polyvagal Theory provides the framework for this understanding. The autonomic nervous system, which is not under conscious control, has two branches. The sympathetic branch is responsible for your fight, flight, and freeze responses – responses to threat. The parasympathetic branch is responsible for the rest, digestion and social engagement responses – our relaxation responses.
When we place undue focus on the relaxation response, we are making a value judgment on those states as being more desirable than others, when we in fact want a versatile and adaptable nervous system. Learning to calm your system is very important, as it will be a resource to navigate a stressful time. But we also want to work with and practice being in more charged states, as stress is a constant in our lives.
Charged states are not all uncomfortable — excitement about something positive is a sympathetically charged state. This is precisely why being able to tolerate charge and navigate it is vital so that we can have access to a wide range of our experience to live full and meaningful lives.
Ideally, regulation is like a pendulum, which can move from one state to the other with ease, and without getting stuck. This is the natural function of the system, the movement back and forth between stress and relaxed states. So, when learning and practising nervous system regulation exercises and practices, it is important to work on the whole spectrum.
This can get a little complicated when a person has experienced trauma.
Trauma here is defined as any experience where a person felt overwhelmed, and they did not feel either consciously or unconsciously that they had the resources to protect themselves from harm. Trauma interrupts the natural movement between states, and may leave someone in highly charged states like feeling anxious, or a deeply frozen state, like feeling numb. If there has been trauma, it’s important to engage in regulation work with a practitioner who is trauma-recovery trained, to guide the process.
Erica Otto is a local kinesiologist, reiki master, and a wellness counsellor.
